Sunday, November 25, 2007

Your Attitude should be like Christ's

My Alma Mater, Concordia University has incorporated servant leadership into its curriculum, under the slogan "Preparing servant leaders for church and world." Concordia students are required to take a servant leadership practicum in which they perform a 60 hour service project.

Jesus taught in the Gospel of Mark, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mark 10:42-45)

Putting other's needs before yourself is the essence of effective leadership. It's the essence of good salesmanship and customer service, and it's the essence of effective diplomacy. In other words, treating others the way you yourself would like to be treated, not money, makes the whole world go around. It opens doors and gets things done.

"The Golden Rule" is actually something Jesus Himself taught- "Do to others as you would have them do to you." Luke 6:31 Keep that, along with Matthew 5:44 "Love your enemies" in mind as you read our passage for this week-

Philippians 2

Imitating Christ's Humility
1If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. 3Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.


The Serendipity Group Study Bible asks "How does this passage challenge the Madison Avenue advertising image of success?"

Good question. I am also reminded of the old adage? Do you love things and use people? Or use things and love people?

You see, here's Jesus- omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, all things were made through Him, and by Him, and yet He gives it all up to be with you, and what's more, He gives it all up and even dies for you. That's sacrifice, that's love.

Here's Jesus, humble, willing to do the dirty jobs, like Mike Rowe on the Discovery channel- doing what needs to get done to make life possible for the rest of us. Compare Him to Satan, AKA Lucifer (light-barer.) Lucifer was created as an archangel in charge of praise and worship. But old Lucy, decided he deserved the glory for himself.

Check out this great passage from Isaiah 14-

12What a comedown this, O Babylon!
Daystar! Son of Dawn!
Flat on your face in the underworld mud,
you, famous for flattening nations!

13-14You said to yourself,
"I'll climb to heaven.
I'll set my throne
over the stars of God.
I'll run the assembly of angels
that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon.
I'll climb to the top of the clouds.
I'll take over as King of the Universe!"

15-17But you didn't make it, did you?
Instead of climbing up, you came down—
Down with the underground dead,
down to the abyss of the Pit.
People will stare and muse:
"Can this be the one
Who terrorized earth and its kingdoms,
turned earth to a moonscape,
Wasted its cities,
shut up his prisoners to a living death?"

Sucks to be him. That's what you get for being selfish and conceited.

also notice that because Jesus humbled Himself, God the Father exalted Him. Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? Jesus tells us in Matthew 20:16, that "the last will be first, and the first will be last." If we put others before ourselves, in the long run it will pay off. People love to be with people who are kind and considerate toward them. Having a servant heart is a great way to win friends and influence people.

Friday, November 23, 2007

A 24 hour moratorium on consumer spending - participate by not participating

This November 23rd, environmentalists, social activists and concerned citizens in as many as 65 countries will hit the streets for a 24-hour consumer fast in celebration of the 15th annual Buy Nothing Day, a global cultural phenomenon that originated in Vancouver, Canada. Read more.

When

North America: 23rd November, 2007
Find out more

Monday, November 12, 2007

NPR.org - John Fugelsang: All the Wrong Reasons

Pirate Ted thought you would be interested in this story: NPR : John Fugelsang: All the Wrong Reasons
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9896359&sc=emaf

This message was included:

This writer/comedian is really smart, and really funny. I actually heard him on Air America this morning, not last April on NPR, but he has a great story.

*Listen/Watch on NPR.org*
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above, look for a "Listen" or "Watch" button.
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NPR Shop: NPR Custom FR400 Crank Radio
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You'll know a tree by it's fruit...

So... yeah... is Robertson no longer opposed to the things he formerly couldn't endorse Guliani for? Is he a hypocrite? Or is he governed more by Machiavelli than by Jesus Christ? Or was he more of a legalistic Pharisee than someone who's read, marked and inwardly digested the Words of Jesus to begin with? Don't get me started on Dobson, I'll blow a gasket. I'm sorry, I guess I am a hypocritical bigot when it comes to Mormonism.

Friday, November 09, 2007

Hmmmm....

Word Game for Free Rice

A little vocab never hurt anybody!

Test yourself here

 For each word y0ou get right, they donate 10 grains of rice through the United Nations to help fight world hunger.

http://freerice.com/index.php 

This is also a great mind-challenge! Of course, if you want to help and learn more words thereby stretching your vocabulary- instead of flexing intellectual muscles you already have; open http://www.merriam-webster.com in a separate tab or window so you can cheat! Hey, you're still helping people.

_____________________________

Pirate Prayers at:
http://malloryprayer.blogspot.com

Ted's cartoons, artworks, photos, and commentary at:
http://tmal.multiply.com

"The gospel is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable." ~Garrison Keillor

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Islamic Religious Fundamentalist Extremists


Ouch- kind of convicting of the folks who read "you've heard it said 'an eye for an eye'..." but never finish reading the " but I tell you when someone strikes you, turn the other cheek..." go the extra mile, give 'em the shirt of your back, love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you parts (Matt 5:38-48)- let alone the bit about "blessed are the peace makers" earlier in in the chapter (Matthew 5:9). Wow. Controversial.

Did you know that Fish's publisher, "Harper's Weekly" is the same magazine that the father of American political cartooning, Thomas Nast drew for? Powerful expression. Whooa Nelly!

Click here to read Cartoonist and Editor Dayle Cagle's Blog about this cartoon

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

God-o-Meter - A scientific measure of God-talk in the elections

God-o-Meter - A scientific measure of God-talk in the elections

About God-o-Meter

The God-o-Meter (pronounced Gah-DOM-meter) scientifically measures factors such as rate of God-talk, effectiveness—saying God wants a capital gains tax cut doesn't guarantee a high rating—and other top-secret criteria. Click a candidate's head to get his or her latest God-o-Meter reading and blog post. And check back often. With so much happening on the campaign trail, God-o-Meter is constantly recalibrating!

Saturday, November 03, 2007

Fear or Hope


7Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son[b] into the world that we might live through him. 10This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for[c] our sins. 11Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

"13We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. 16And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

19We love because he first loved us. 20If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." ~ John 4:13-21

Thursday, November 01, 2007

What's a 'Red-Letter Christian'?

by Tony Campolo
Beliefnet 2-27-2006

Recently, I met with a group of religious leaders who have become increasingly disturbed by the alliance between evangelical Christians and the Republican Party. Karl Rove, President Bush’s political strategist, has brilliantly and successfully served as the matchmaker to arrange this union, which was consummated in the last presidential election when 83 percent of evangelicals voted Republican.

The meeting was joined by the Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine; Father Richard Rohr, a well-known Catholic writer and speaker; Brian McLaren, a leader of the emergent church movement; the Rev. Dr. Cheryl J. Sanders, a prominent African-American pastor; the Rev. Noel Castellanos, a strong voice in the Hispanic community; and several other outstanding Christian communicators.

The purpose of this gathering was not to create a religious left movement to challenge the religious right, but to jump-start a religious movement that will transcend partisan politics. Believing that Jesus is neither a Republican nor a Democrat, we want to unite Christians who are concerned about what is happening in America. We are evangelicals who are troubled by what is happening to poor people in America; who are disturbed over environmental policies that are contributing to global warming; who are dismayed over the increasing arrogance of power shown in our country’s militarism; who are outraged because government funding is being reduced for schools where students, often from impoverished and dysfunctional homes, are testing poorly; who are upset with the fact that of the 22 industrialized nations America is next to last in the proportion of its national budget (less than two-tenths of 1 percent) that is designated to help the poor of third-world countries; and who are broken-hearted over discrimination against women, people of color, and those who suffer because of their sexual orientation.

Because being evangelical is usually synonymous with being Republican in the popular mind, and calling ourselves “progressive” might be taken as a value judgment by those who do share our views, we decided not to call ourselves “progressive evangelicals.” We came up with a new name: Red-Letter Christians.

Who first suggested the label? A secular Jewish Country-and-Western disc jockey in Nashville, Tennessee. During a radio interview he was conducting with Jim Wallis, he happened to say, “So, you’re one of those Red-Letter Christians - you know - who’s really into those verses in the New Testament that are in red letters!”

Jim answered, “That’s right!” And with that answer, he spoke for all of us. By calling ourselves Red-Letter Christians, we are alluding to the fact that in several versions of the New Testament, the words of Jesus are printed in red. In adopting this name, we are saying that we are committed to living out the things that He said. Of course, the message in those red-lettered verses is radical, to say the least. If you don’t believe me, read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

In those red letters, He calls us away from the consumerist values that dominate contemporary American consciousness. He calls us to be merciful, which has strong implications for how we think about capital punishment. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he probably means we shouldn’t kill them. Most important, if we take Jesus seriously, we will realize that meeting the needs of the poor is a primary responsibility for His followers.

Figuring out just how to relate those radical red letters in the Bible to the complex issues in the modern world will be difficult, but that’s what we’ll try to do.

Gandhi once said that everybody in the world knows what Jesus was teaching in those verses - except Christians! We will try to prove him wrong.


Click here to see this article at its original site: Beliefnet

Reformation Polka

Hurray for Hypocracy!!!


Amen and hallelujah. And all my conservative-Christian friends are worried about MY eternal salvation because I vote for Democrats!